Iraqi police say a car bomb has killed at least five people and wounded 44 others near a revered shrine in the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala.

Authorities say the blast occurred early Saturday outside the Imam Al-Abbas shrine, south of Baghdad.

Officials in the Iraqi capital say a mortar attack on a mostly Shi'ite neighborhood killed 25 people. And at least three people died in a car bomb explosion in the northern city of Mosul.

Also in Mosul, official said a nephew of Saddam Hussein, Ayman Sabawi, escaped from jail, where he was being held on weapons charges.

The U.S. military says an American soldier died Saturday in western Anbar province from combat wounds.

Meanwhile, Iraqi officials say they are close to a draft agreement on sharing oil wealth among Iraq's different ethnic groups.

Earlier this week, a U.S. panel, the Iraq Study Group, said a deal on oil revenue is a crucial step towards resolving political and sectarian divisions in Iraq.

In New York, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says the possibility of a civil war or regional conflict is becoming much more real.

In a report Friday to the Security Council, the U.N. chief said the sectarian carnage in Iraq has led to a vicious cycle of violence fueled by revenge killings.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.